Prayer Cycle / Monk in the World / Day 1
Day 5: Sabbath
Video, Audio and Written Guides for Morning and Evening Prayer
Morning Prayer
OPENING PRAYER
We gather this morning to remember the gift of Sabbath. Let us commit to rhythms of rest and renewal that resist a culture of busyness where my worth is measured by what I do. Let us give thanks for the gift of being, of pleasure, of restoration’s sweetness.
OPENING SONG: In My Heart is the Road
FIRST READING: Abraham Joshua Heschel
The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world.
SUNG PSALM OPENING
O Peace, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise. (Repeat)
PSALM 126
When we found ourselves free,
we couldn’t believe it. We wandered around,
dazed with joy.
People shook their heads and said,
“God has done great things for them!”
God has done great things for us
and we are glad.
Help us adjust to this turn of events.
Make the most of us.
Help us to never forget.
We sowed these seeds with tears. We reap with joy.
SUNG DOXOLOGY
Glory to the Maker, Lover, and Keeper; as ago, in this breath, and will be ever. Amen, Amen.
SECOND READING: Exodus 20:1-11
Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
SILENT CONTEMPLATION
PRAYERS OF CONCERN
We offer prayers now for all that is on our hearts.
Oh Creator God, how we need Sabbath rest in our frenetic world. We have allowed technology to blind us to the wisdom held in the rhythms and seasons of Creation. Remind us that we are your creatures and we too need rest and fallow time.
Sung Response – O God of Love, show the way of Sabbath.
Loving God, help us to see that living in a constantly lit world, bombarded by unending information, always available and needing to react is not healthy and leads to depletion and sickness. Help us rediscover the joy of sacred time.
Sung Response – O God of Love, show the way of Sabbath.
Merciful one, help us to turn off our screens, to step aside and find You and each other in times of deep rest and true connection. May we rediscover rituals of connection and celebration. Help us to come home.
Sung Response – O God of Love, show the way of Sabbath.
Please add the prayers you are longing to express.
Sung Response – O God of Love, show the way of Sabbath.
CLOSING SONG: You Can Rest Now
CLOSING BLESSING
God of holy rest,
on the seventh day you paused,
laying down the work of creation
and entered into sacred stillness.
Let us remember we were freed from slavery
in Egypt and you called us to be people of liberation.
Kindle in us the strength to say no
to a world of perpetual busyness.
Inspire us to set aside all of our plans
and goals to receive the lavish gift
of rest for ourselves.
Let the Sabbath be a time of profound renewal,
of intimate connection with You,
and a rekindling of our holy desires to be of service.
Sustain in us the desire to simply be
and not succumb to the demands
of productivity and an endless string of achievements.
Let our lives be a loving witness to a world
of restoration and refreshment,
of the profound goodness of joy and delight,
taking pleasure in the generous gift of pausing.
SUNG AMEN
Credits
All songs and texts used with permission
Opening Prayer written by Christine Valters Paintner
Opening Song: In My Heart is the Road by Richard Bruxvoort Colligan
First Reading from Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux (2005).
Sung Psalm Opening and Doxology by Richard Bruxvoort Colligan
Interpretation of Psalm 126 by Rev. Christine Robinson
Second Reading from Exodus 20:1-11 (NRSV).The Sign of Jonas. Harcourt Press (1981) p. 321.
Prayers of Concern written by Polly Burns
Sung Response by Betsey Beckman
Closing Song: You Can Rest Now by Trish Bruxvoort Colligan
Closing Blessing: written by Christine Valters Paintner
Please note: All of the Opening and Closing Songs are published on CDs in the Abbey of the Arts collection. In addition, these songs have accompanying gesture prayers and/or dances created by Betsey Beckman that can be found on the corresponding DVD (each album has a DVD companion). The Psalm Opening, Doxology, and the Response to the Prayers of Concern also have accompanying congregational gestures. The audio and video recordings of these are available at AbbeyoftheArts.com.
Evening Prayer
OPENING PRAYER
As we end this day, let us give thanks for our Sabbath moments. When were we able to release our worries and be present? What did we discover in those moments of being rather than doing? We sanctify this time of deep surrender, knowing the Source of Rest has blessed us with new perspective that only comes when we let go of our striving.
OPENING SONG: Surrender
SUNG PSALM OPENING
O Peace, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise. (Repeat)
PSALM 81
Sing, Shout, be Joyful!
Play music, blow horns
At the new moon, the full moon, the holy days, the Sabbath.
Let this rejoicing be your practice.
Hear the still, small voice—
You called on me in trouble and I helped you.
Keep listening!
Open your heart and it will fill up.
My longing is for you, as yours is for me.
I want to whisper in your ear
And satisfy your hunger
with honey from the rock.
SUNG DOXOLOGY
Glory to the Maker, Lover, and Keeper; as ago, in this breath, and will be ever. Amen, Amen.
READING OF THE NIGHT: Thomas Merton
The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence.
SILENT CONTEMPLATION
CLOSING POEM: Sabbath
Even as the subway car hurtles
into the tunnel and calendars heave
under growing weight of entries,
even under the familiar lament
for more hours to do
a bell rings somewhere
and a man lays down
his hammer, as if to say
the world can build without me,
a woman sets down
her pen as if to say,
the world will carry on
without my words.
The project left undone,
dust on the shelves,
dishes crusted with morning
egg, the vase of drooping
flowers, and so much work
still to complete,
I journey across the long field
where trees cling to the edges
free to not do anything but
stand their ground,
where buttercups
and bluebells sway
and in this taste of paradise
where rest becomes luminous
and play a prayer of gratitude,
even the stones sing
of a different time,
where burden is lifted
and eternity endures.
CLOSING SONG: Lullaby
